Summer color in full sun

Updated 2:44 pm, Friday, June 6, 2014

Bold bougainvillea can take the heat. It does best in full sun and prefers being root bound.

Bold bougainvillea can take the heat. It does best in full sun and prefers being root bound.

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Summer color in full sun

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SAN ANTONIO — Bougainvillea and Chinese hibiscus deliver superior blooms in full sun.

Gardeners can find selections of bougainvillea with red, pink, lavender, fuchsia or white blooms. The plants cycle between profusions of color and rest periods. The red, pink and lavender selections seem to bloom the longest through the season, with flowers for about five weeks after a three-week rest period.

Bougainvillea is easy to grow, but some of its requirements defy intuition.

For best bloom, it needs full sun all day. And it grows and blooms best if it is allowed to dry out between waterings. Some gardeners wait until the plants wilt to irrigate them.

Bougainvillea goes into bloom mode only if it is root-bound. When plants are newly transplanted into larger containers or when the roots escape through a crack in the pot or the drain hole, the plant quits blooming and concentrates on growing leaves and more roots.

Prune the crown of the bougainvillea to be 21/2 times as large as the root ball. Trim or pinch back the ends of the stems to keep the plant compact.

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Fertilize the plants with hibiscus food, soluble fertilizer in the watering can or with a slow-release fertilizer.

Bougainvillea must be protected from the cold. When temperatures dip to about 40 degrees, it quits blooming. Freezing temperatures kill the plants.

Oriental, or Chinese, hibiscus offers a broader range of color choices than bougainvillea. Choose from red, pink, white, yellow, orange, lavender and bicolor selections. Blooms on red and pink varieties seem to last longer than the other colors.

Grow hibiscus in full sun and keep them evenly moist. Water when the soil surface feels dry.

Like bougainvillea, hibiscus is a tropical plant that doesn't tolerate cold temperatures.

Calvin Finch is a horticulturist and director of the Texas A&M Water Conservation and Technology Center. Contact him at calvin.finch@tamu.edu.